Latest On Boston’s Managerial Search

The Red Sox met with Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum yesterday to discuss the possibility of managing in 2012. Sveum obtained a job offer later in the day, but it was from the Cubs, not the Red Sox. Boston GM Ben Cherington now seems prepared to expand his managerial search. Here’s the latest…

The Red Sox haven't scheduled a formal interview with Valentine or arranged second interviews with other candidates, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.

Cherington and Valentine met early on in the process, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald (Twitterlinks). Larry Lucchino has also met with Valentine. Silverman reports that Blue Jays first base coach Torey Lovullo will get a second interview for the position.

Valentine has met with at least one Red Sox owner and will meet with the others, according to Rosenthal and Morosi (on Twitter). Interest between Valentine and the Red Sox appears mutual, according to ESPNBoston.com's Gordon Edes (on Twitter).

The Red Sox will take a breather before continuing the managerial search, according to Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com (on Twitter).

Cherington says his bosses did not undercut him during the process, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post (on Twitter). "Absolutely not. I don't know where that comes from," he said.

The Red Sox haven't ruled out former MLB manager Bobby Valentine, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The FOX reporters say Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont made a strong impression with the Red Sox and note that Lamont's previous managerial experience may play in his favor.

"I don't know that that's accurate," said team president Larry Lucchino when asked if their search will consist of more experienced candidates, reports Rosenthal (Twitterlinks). "We're not in any rush," added Lucchino."[Terry Francona] was hired first week of December."

A source tells Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports that the Red Sox aren't out of the running for Sveum just yet, and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hears that they could still hire from their original group of candidates even if they expand the search (Twitterlinks).

The Red Sox aren't prepared to offer Sveum a managerial position at this time, according to Alex Speier of WEEI.com. The team expects Sveum to accept the Cubs' offer.

Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach and Rays bench coach Dave Martinez won't be part of Boston's search if the Red Sox do expand their list of candidates, according to WEEI.com's Rob Bradford.

Peter Gammons of MLB Network suggests the Red Sox owners are prioritizing experience in the ongoing managerial search. “What a laugh,” Gammons writes after pointing out that all great managers start somewhere (Twitter link).

Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald heard earlier on in the process that Ryne Sandberg is a candidate to watch (Twitter link).

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says Boston's decision to decline Terry Francona's options for 2012-13 after their late-season collapse set in motion "a series of unfortunate events."

This just in: The New England Patriots fire Bill Belichick and in less than 5 minutes, the Boston Red Sox offered him a 3 year deal. It is rumored that Boston did this to compete with the sweater-wearing manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, Joe Maddon. If you can’t beat him, join him?

No he won’t. He turned down the Sox because of family concerns and just did the same to the Cubs. I don’t expect we’ll see him as a manager any time soon unless Washington gets recklessly fired or the Astros want to change things up.

Peter Gammons of MLB Network suggests the Red Sox owners are
prioritizing experience in the ongoing managerial search. “What a
laugh,” Gammons writes after pointing out that all great managers start
somewhere.

As much as you want to knock Gammons, he was the first to report on the rift betwenn Francona and the Sox management, which everyone shot down when he did and lo and behold look where Francona is now. And he said Lackey was going to have Tommy John surgery, which everyone shot down and guess what Lackey is having now. Like him or not he knows whats what.

Also, most (all?) manager candidates with have been major league managers in the past have been FIRED by their teams. That’s like saying you’ll only consider candidates who were deemed unworthy of managing their team.

Indeed. Seems like two-time firee Bobby Valentine is going to get it now, which telegraphs what we pretty much already knew: Ben Cherington is GM in title only. Lucchino is running the show now. Why make Cherington go through the dog and pony show of interviewing all these people with little or no experience when after he makes his choice the bosses say “We want an experienced manager”. You couldn’t have just said that at the start? They cut Cherington’s legs out from under him right out of the gate. This makes the Red Sox look worse.

If I’m not mistaken, didn’t Cherington and I believe Henry specifically say that experience was not needed? And besides, they don’t seem to be targeting people with experience as managers either. Alomar Jr. has never been a manager and Sveum has only managed 12 MLB games.

I don’t think that Sveum would be a good thing for either party. He is not what we need and since he is regarded as useless by most fans since his fiasco as third base coach he would be booed as soon as Sox loses a couple of games, no honeymoon for him since his rep in Boston is horrible.

After what happened last year with this organization their lucky if anyone wants this job. Who ever they get won’t be as good as Tito. They have already downgrated their team with the loss of Theo, Tito, and Papelbon and the winter hasn’t even started. If they fall on their face again this year it’s three strikes you out, and the collapse turns into a curse!

How long does this take, before they even started searching i thought the canidates were Martinez, Farrel, Mackinin, Sveum, Alomar, and Maddux. They’ve eliminated Mackinin, Sveum got another job, Maddux dropped out of the race, Farrel and Martinez weren’t on the list…what does that leave? Valentine-no thanks…Alomar- YES!!! or get Martinez in the race please!!!

Agreed but you always have the hope that it’s not. Fans ( including me ) are naive, sometimes. I guess the Sox will slowly become the laughing stock of the AL now that Lucchino is in charge. What a bad nightmare *facepalm*

This whole managerial search is an absolute joke. Clearly Cherington wanted Sveum, but Henry, Lucchino, and Werner did not like him. To me it shows that management doesn’t trust Cherington’s judgement. What a joke the Red Sox are becoming. I wish Henry would just sell the team, and move on.

” If you’re going to disagree with him, boy, you’d better have your facts
together and you’d better know what you’re talking about, because he’ll
make you talk in circles sometimes. That’s how bright he is as a
baseball mind.”

Jim Duquette on Bobby V from a WEEI interview… Man he is getting more and more talk in the Boston media..Which I realize is generally full of crap, but still..Fingers crossed…